1963 Monaco Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Graham Hill began his title defence with victory at Monaco, leading Richie Ginther in a BRM one-two. Jim Clark had controlled much of the race before gearbox failure ended his challenge.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Jim Clark	Lotus
Pole time	1:34.3
Fastest lap	John Surtees	Ferrari
Fastest-lap time	1:34.500 on lap 100
First	Graham Hill	BRM
Second	Richie Ginther	BRM
Third	Bruce McLaren	Cooper

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
23 May 1963	Thursday timed practice	Start time unconfirmed
24 May 1963	Friday morning timed practice	Start time unconfirmed
25 May 1963	Saturday final qualifying	14:00–15:15
26 May 1963	Race	14:45

All times are local. The race time is the scheduled start; weather delays and interruptions are described below.

Championship background

The 1963 F1 World Championship began with a fresh points table and the first opportunity to measure the teams in race conditions. Circuit de Monaco hosted the opening contest, where qualifying pace, tyre management and reliability would all shape the result.

Race entries

Surtees joined Ferrari alongside Mairesse, while Gurney partnered Brabham. Several new projects were not ready, including ATS and Scirocco. Monaco guaranteed places to selected champions and previous winners, leaving the rest to qualify. Amon eventually handed his Lola to the guaranteed entrant Trintignant after the latter’s engine failed.

Thursday timed practice

Clark set the pace in his new Lotus and was also quick in the spare. Mechanical trouble affected several rivals: Brabham’s engine failed, McLaren struggled with fuel injection and Surtees lost running to a water leak. The revised timing line measured cars accelerating away from the hairpin, preventing artificially quick laps gained by overshooting its braking point.

Friday morning timed practice

Surtees briefly headed the times before Clark produced a decisive late improvement. Hill, Ginther and Ireland also joined the closing rush. Bonnier damaged a gear and Trintignant’s engine failed, while Brabham travelled to arrange repairs to his own engine. Traffic made clear laps difficult until the leading drivers went out together.

Saturday final qualifying

Clark concentrated partly on full-fuel running and retained pole. Hill improved to join him on the front row. Gurney then suffered an engine failure, and Surtees damaged his Ferrari at the chicane. Trintignant took Amon’s car, while Collomb failed to meet the organisers’ required pace. Only fifteen cars ultimately started.

Qualifying Classification

Fastest practice laps set grid order, but guaranteed invitations and the organisers’ performance threshold also governed admission. Brabham ultimately borrowed the spare works Lotus after his repaired engine was allocated to Gurney.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Timed session 1	Timed session 2	Timed session 3	Best Time
1	9	Jim Clark	Lotus	1:35.3	1:34.3	1:35.2	1:34.3
2	6	Graham Hill	BRM	1:37.0	1:35.7	1:35.0	1:35.0
3	21	John Surtees	Ferrari	1:38.7	1:35.2	1:36.5	1:35.2
4	5	Richie Ginther	BRM	1:37.0	1:35.8	1:35.2	1:35.2
5	14	Innes Ireland	Lotus	1:37.9	1:35.5	1:35.7	1:35.5
6	4	Dan Gurney	Brabham	1:38.9	1:36.1	1:35.8	1:35.8
7	20	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari	1:37.6	1:36.0	1:35.9	1:35.9
8	7	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	1:43.8	1:38.3	1:36.0	1:36.0
9	10	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	1:39.1	1:37.2	1:38.6	1:37.2
10	8	Tony Maggs	Cooper	1:38.4	1:37.9	1:39.1	1:37.9
11	11	Jo Bonnier	Cooper	1:42.5	1:39.4	1:38.6	1:38.6
12	25	Jo Siffert	Lotus	1:41.7	1:40.9	1:39.4	1:39.4
13	12	Jim Hall	Lotus	1:41.0	1:41.7	1:43.6	1:41.0
14	17	Maurice Trintignant	Lola	1:43.0	1:41.3	1:48.9	1:41.3
15	15	Chris Amon	Lola	1:43.8	1:41.4	—	1:41.4
16	24	Bernard Collomb	Lotus	1:46.8	1:43.3	1:44.9	1:43.3
17	3	Jack Brabham	Lotus	1:44.7	No time	No time	1:44.7

Before the last qualifying session, Chris Amon was instructed to hand his car over to Maurice Trintignant, who had a guaranteed starting berth, but had suffered terminal issues with his own car.

Despite the withdrawal of Chris Amon, Bernard Collomb did not qualify for the 16th and final spot on the grid, as his fastest lap time was not close enough to a 1:40 benchmark set by the organizers.

What happened in the 1963 Monaco Grand Prix?

The two BRMs led initially, but Clark passed Ginther and then Hill to take control. Surtees also advanced and briefly challenged Hill for second before mechanical trouble slowed the Ferrari.

Clark built an advantage, only for his gearbox to fail late in the race. Hill inherited the lead and brought the BRM home without further difficulty.

Ginther completed the one-two, with McLaren third and Surtees fourth. Taylor and Bonnier took the remaining points. Clark’s speed had again been clear, but reliability decided the opening round.

After the race, Graham Hill headed the drivers’ standings with 9 points, followed by Richie Ginther on 6. BRM led the constructors’ table on 9, with Cooper – Climax on 4.

1963 Monaco Grand Prix race results

The 1963 Monaco Grand Prix was held on 26 May 1963, with a scheduled start of 14:45 local time.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	6	Graham Hill	BRM	100	2:41:49.7	9
2	5	Richie Ginther	BRM	100	+ 4.6	6
3	7	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	100	+ 12.8	4
4	21	John Surtees	Ferrari	100	+ 14.1	3
5	8	Tony Maggs	Cooper	98	+ 2 laps	2
6	10	Trevor Taylor	Lotus	98	+ 2 laps	1
7	11	Jo Bonnier	Cooper	94	+ 6 laps	0
8	9	Jim Clark	Lotus	78	Gearbox	0
9	3	Jack Brabham	Lotus	77	Gearbox	0
Ret	14	Innes Ireland	Lotus	40	Accident	0
Ret	20	Willy Mairesse	Ferrari	37	Gearbox	0
Ret	17	Maurice Trintignant	Lola	34	Clutch	0
Ret	4	Dan Gurney	Brabham	25	Differential	0
Ret	12	Jim Hall	Lotus	20	Gearbox	0
Ret	25	Jo Siffert	Lotus	3	Engine	0
DNS	15	Chris Amon	Lola		Trintignant raced car	0
DNQ	24	Bernard Collomb	Lotus			0
WD	1	Phil Hill	ATS		Car not ready	0
WD	2	Giancarlo Baghetti	ATS		Car not ready	0
WD	16	John Campbell-Jones	Lotus		Gearbox damaged	0
WD	18	Ian Burgess	Scirocco		Car not ready	0
WD	19	Tony Settember	Scirocco		Car not ready	0
WD	22	Nasif Estéfano	De Tomaso			0
WD	23	Lorenzo Bandini	BRM		Car repossessed by BRM	0
WD	24	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche			0

1963 Monaco Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	21	John Surtees	Ferrari	100	1:34.500

Only drivers with a recorded lap time appear. No fastest-lap bonus point was awarded.

1963 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 1963 Monaco Grand Prix.

1963 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Graham Hill	British	BRM	9
2	Richie Ginther	American	BRM	6
3	Bruce McLaren	New Zealander	Cooper	4
4	John Surtees	British	Ferrari	3
5	Tony Maggs	South African	Cooper	2
6	Trevor Taylor	British	Lotus	1
–	Jo Bonnier	Swedish	Cooper	0
–	Jim Clark	British	Lotus	0
–	Jack Brabham	Australian	Lotus	0
–	Innes Ireland	British	Lotus	0
–	Willy Mairesse	Belgian	Ferrari	0
–	Maurice Trintignant	French	Lola	0
–	Dan Gurney	American	Brabham	0
–	Jim Hall	American	Lotus	0
–	Jo Siffert	Swiss	Lotus	0
–	Chris Amon	New Zealander	Lola	0
–	Phil Hill	American	ATS	0
–	Giancarlo Baghetti	Italian	ATS	0
–	John Campbell-Jones	British	Lotus	0
–	Ian Burgess	British	Scirocco	0
–	Tony Settember	American	Scirocco	0
–	Nasif Estéfano	Argentine	De Tomaso	0
–	Lorenzo Bandini	Italian	BRM	0
–	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Dutch	Porsche	0

1963 Post-Race F1 Constructors' Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	BRM	9
2	Cooper – Climax	4
3	Ferrari	3
4	Lotus – Climax	1
—	Lotus – BRM	0
—	Lola – Climax	0
—	Brabham – Climax	0
—	ATS	0
—	Scirocco – BRM	0
—	Porsche	0

Drivers and constructors counted their best 6 results. Only the highest-placed eligible car for each constructor could score constructor points.

1963 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	1963 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	26 May
2	1963 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	9 June
3	1963 Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	23 June
4	1963 French Grand Prix	Reims-Gueux, Reims	30 June
5	1963 British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	20 July
6	1963 German Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg	4 August
7	1963 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	8 September
8	1963 United States Grand Prix	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York	6 October
9	1963 Mexican Grand Prix	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	27 October
10	1963 South African Grand Prix	Prince George Circuit, East London	28 December